A collection of healthy recipes that taste too good to be good for you, but they are!
You will also find links to articles about health and nutrition.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Asparagus Salad with Tomato and Onion

About a year ago we discovered that we really like raw marinated asparagus. I have made a similar salad with millet which you will find here. Tonight I wanted to make an asparagus salad without a grain component. If you haven’t had raw asparagus before you should give it a try. This recipe is in essence a quick pickled asparagus.

After reading the full article about nutrition and cancer last week I decided that I was going to add more of those healthy raw vegetables into our diet. Asparagus was one of the foods that inhibited cancer growth, and since we like it raw this was an easy addition to our diet. Here is what I made tonight.

Combine the wine vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Add the onion to the vinegar and toss to coat. Add the asparagus and tomatoes and toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes so the flavors can combine. Don’t keep for more than few hours of the vegetables will get too soft. Serve as a side dish or over salad greens and garnish with pine nuts.

If you add oil to your vinaigrettes you may want to add that to the dressing component of this salad. We have all but eliminated oils which is why it is not in the recipe above. I added pine nuts to this salad for fat, texture and flavor. We love the buttery flavor of pine nuts in spite of the fact that they are not antioxidant packed. You could also add olives if you prefer. A little fat is necessary to aborb the fat soluble vitamins. If you don’t have fresh tomatoes, this is also good with sun-dried tomatoes. Garlic lovers may want to add a clove to the dressing. Cooked beans would also be good in the salad if you want to make it a meal. As you can see the salad can go in many directions.

Each serving of this salad contains approximately 1,700IU of vitamin A, 15mg of vitamin C, 60mg of calcium, 5mg of iron, 110mcg of folate, 90mcg of vitamin K, 165mg of phosphorus, and 55mg of magnesium.

Unrelated Note:

Today was rather disorganized at my house. It started with me losing my keys. I looked for them for an hour before I gave up and decided to do other things. A couple of hours later I found the keys when I wasn’t looking for them. This is what I get for grabbing my keys and not my purse and not putting them back in my purse when I can home. Live and learn.

Since I was stuck at home today, I did some work around the house on my various projects and to do lists. Sometimes it can be very productive to be stuck at home.

On a very positive note the snow we were suppose to get today turned into a very light rain. Yay, something to help this darn snow melt. However, I did see a little bit of grass today. Not much, but I will take it. I am really looking forward to the snow melting.

Asparagus is something we really like. How fortunate that it is good for us. So often the things we like are not good for us.

Yesterday was very disorganized. In the past it would have thrown me off, but now losing my keys is a minor event. If only that was my biggest problem to deal with I would be thrilled! :) Today is definitely starting on a more positive note.

Not only does is this salad full of healthy goodies; not only does it star one of my all-time favorite veggies, the inspiring asparagus; and not only does it look easy and sound divine... it's the colors of the Italian flag! What's not to love. :-)

I think I probably noticed it because one of the very first recipes BW and I ever "invented" is also the colors of the Italian flag, and in fact we named the dish "Tricolore Sauté!" :-) And no, you may not have the recipe. Yet. I need to make it again so I can photograph it, because I hope to enter it one day in your Healthy Cooking Challenge when it fits a category. Until then, I'll merely torment you with it. LOL